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-   -   3D Printing (http://mini-zracer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41290)

arch2b 2018.08.28 07:01 AM

3D Printing
 
Now that 3D Printing is mainstream, any thoughts on how to best showcase this talent? I would love to be able to use this forum as a tool to help share the wealth of knowledge and experience. There was a time i was able to keep up with Shapeways releases and posted 'Shapeways Spotlight' updates. Perhaps an ongoing 'Spotlight' series could help identify and share the innovative creations and help provide access to such avenues?

Thoughts, recommendations, volunteers?

EMU 2018.08.28 02:00 PM

There are plenty of interesting 3d prints for Mini-Z. I think a 3d print subforum might be a nice thing to have. I would be glad to help out with whatever I can when I have the time.

I have been doing a little dabbling in 3d design, but not as much as I would like. I think ByeBye has the most experience in design and print out of the people that I know. My designs have been done with Shapeways SLS tech in mind, where extrusion design I am sure requires a different approach due to material strengths and printing process.

arch2b 2018.08.29 07:13 AM

Should a new section be more 'Maker Space' vs. 3D printing? There are so many avenues that were not commercially viable 5-10 years ago that limiting to 3D printing is well, limiting.

Hoping to foster a 'Maker' community here where advise, tutorials, etc. can be shared as well as innovative designs and resources. I want to be sure we offer as much exposure to the 'Maker' community as we can as the rapid pace of development means much of the innovation comes from this segment now vs. manufacturer's given the much slower pace of development to market for their products. If your not exposed to this stuff, I would never have known thingverse for example existed.

I imagine in the coming future, we will be able to purchase/print spare plastic parts on demand. Maybe even metal parts... The automotive industry is already printing in metal for development/prototyping.

EMU 2018.08.29 08:13 AM

It was almost 10 years ago when I ventured into developing my own tower bar set for the mr015. What a costly mistake. In the end about $6k down the drain. Still have about 200 of them. :rolleyes: a single prototype cost almost $500. Now you could have a good 3d printer for that and prototype all day long.

A maker oriented community for the hobby would be great. I know that I never made a product for profit, and would be happy to share what I've learned along the way.

Shapeways offers metal printing as well. The resolution is similar to their plastic, and is somewhat expensive.

What I've learned about shapeways costs. First, you are charged a fixed rate for the spot in the printer, then by print area. When designing a print, the more surface area the print box consumes, the more expensive it will be. If printing multiple parts in one print, stacking vertically is less expensive. Finally you are charged by material volume.

My chassis for example costs about $45 to print at cost, once reason why I haven't really pushed to bring it to market. You also have chances of bad prints, although less complex shapes with thicker walls usually don't have issue.

When I design a print, once I havethe main structure to my liking, I doas much wall thinning as I can while trying to keep it structurally sound.

My first design process was half of an f1 chassis with a t-plate mount to accept an mr03 rear end and damper, which took that methodology to the extreme. It was way too flexible.

I started with Google sketch up. Which is easy to pick up, but frustratingto do anything complex. After a few years away from it, I returned and used freecad, which was much more constraint oriented. But a relatively slow process to do anything with flow. Lately I've been using fusion 360 with a hobby license. Although, it seems if u don't touch it for a month or two, I forget everything (which is where i am right now).

arch2b 2018.08.29 12:14 PM

It's funny how this is being discussed in what was the forerunner to maker community activities. What was home brew, experimental is now at times instantly available to all, more open source at times.

Even the notion of 'aftermarket' has taken on new meaning now that it's far simpler to offer mass market chassis. There are plenty of unique chassis solutions on Shapeways, on top of what the now crowded aftermarket manufacturers are offering. It's hard just to keep up with all the offerings that are available now. I remember the days of Pro-z offering retail kits and they were considered exotic at the time.

Minizorro 2018.08.29 04:19 PM

I vaguely remember posting a similar message a long time ago, but seeing you guys are discussing 3d printing..
It would be really awesome to start an open source car project, where the models can be downloaded for free and people can contribute with their own design. It's a commonly used model for free collaborative software development and since the car would be 3D designed, it could work.
It would be a brave move as surely there's a risk that the first contributors end up sharing their hard work and get nothing back and no community, so I'm not even sure it's a realistic idea... but having spent a few hours measuring up the main MR03 chassis and being probably 10% there in terms of detail and precision.. it wold make sense to share the efforts.
I'm making (really slowly) some parts for Mr03 and the old F1 and I find it quite easy to prototype new pieces but making them fit the existing ones without having the original model 3D cad it's a real pain, so I realised that I needed a perfect reproduction of the original main chassis at least in order to make new add ons. Tried to look for a MR03 CAD chassis online but only found a generously free model of a MR01, which I didn't even download.. what do you guys think, it's a bad idea?

arch2b 2018.08.29 05:20 PM

As altruistic as that sounds, I don't believe it would happen. To create an accurate model could take a significant time effort, which I'm sure no one is going to simply give away.

Not saying it couldn't be crowd sourced model. Not sure how that could be done but over time, I'm sure it could be if enough people chipped away at it.


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